William Boyce QC: news

On 12 January 2016, Ketan Somaia was ordered to pay a total of £38,855,647 in compensation and confiscation, following a private prosecution at the Central Criminal Court, which resulted in his conviction in 2014 on 9 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception. The judge, HHJ Hone QC, set the term in default for non-payment at 16 years’ imprisonment which, if implemented, would be served consecutively to his sentence upon conviction of 8 years’ imprisonment.

The Learned Judge described the defendant as “a formidable and serial fraudsman on a truly Olympian scale”.

The prosecution is believed to be the largest private prosecution brought by an individual in the UK to date. The prosecution was represented in court by William Boyce QC and Rachna Gokani.